HELLERTOWN, Pa. — A state grant of $230,030 could be used to directly connect the Saucon Rail Trail and the borough’s southern commercial district at Main Street and Polk Valley Road.
Hellertown Borough Council approved a resolution requesting the funding from the state's Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program.
The plans for Tumminello Park and nearby call for the trail connection and directional signs, sidewalks and a pedestrian-activated crosswalk across Main Street.
Project drawings also show a footbridge over the nearby mill race — a channel once used to move water to the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill about a half-mile north of the park.
The improvements would provide “a key connection” that Hellertown lacks at the moment, according to Borough Engineer Bryan Smith.
“Many years ago, we had that parking lot and that simple loop, but we haven’t actually accomplished much down at that facility."Hellertown Borough Councilman Thomas Rieger
If awarded the GTRP funding, likely by sometime in the fall, the borough would have to provide a 15% match.
Other improvements — pickleball courts, a pavilion, bird boxes and updated educational signage — would come later as part of a broader Saucon Creek Greenway Corridor development plan, Smith said.
'An underdeveloped borough resource'
Councilman Thomas Rieger called Tumminello Park “an underdeveloped borough resource.”
“Many years ago, we had that parking lot and that simple loop, but we haven’t actually accomplished much down at that facility,” Rieger said.
Sitting at the lower end of town just across from Hellertown Diner and Shoppes at Hellertown, Tumminello Park acts as a “passive park-trail,” according to the borough website. It’s one of eight parks in Hellertown.
The nearby Saucon Rail Trail runs over seven miles, from Bachman Street in Hellertown down to East Station Avenue in Coopersburg. It was once part of the old North Pennsylvania Railroad, which was first constructed in 1855.
